Holly & Heather’s Helpful Hint: Doing Something Right!

by helpinghandstwins

As parents of teenagers we are in the last stage of the formative years, continuing to impart our wisdom and guiding them in the right direction. We don’t think it ever really ends, even as adults we still talk to our parents about life, problem solving, sharing the good and the hurts.

Recently one of our kids received accolades on a pretty important exam that was taken and as a result a whole world of amazing opportunities has opened up. This teenager is extremely smart (as are all of our kids, love you guys!) and we would like to partly attribute it to “doing something right” as parents. So often when our kids have difficulties or troubles the first thing we think is “did I do something wrong?” But in this instance it was “how did they get so smart, what did we do right?” The answer is a combination of many things, but one of the most important is early childhood decisions. We are giving ourselves a pat on the back for not allowing our children to watch any television or look at a screen, in this case until age 3 (with the others we were not as diligent, though we did make it thru the first year or two!). Another thing we both did was a lot of reading…reading, reading, reading! A story at lunch, a book every night & plenty of visits to the library. Also successful: plenty of outdoor time. Good old fresh air running around the yard or playing in the park.

Of course many things later in life also contributed along the way towards education but we tried very hard when our kids were little, especially in those very early formative years when the brain is growing and developing so rapidly, to do right by them. It was hard sometimes, the days can be so long but remember, the years are short. And once they’re gone you’ve missed that crucial period of time when they’re learning, growing and bonding.

Of course our number one goal is always for our kids to be happy and healthy, why not give them a good educational start to their future too!